Pregame preview: Utah HC vs. Boston Bruins

The Utah Hockey Club has a perfect record against teams that made the playoffs last year. It hopes to continue that trend Saturday when the Boston Bruins come to town.

Here are three factors that will play into the game, but first, let’s introduce the opponent.

Getting to know the Boston Bruins

The Bruins are one of the NHL’s “Original Six” franchises. Contrary to the name, though, they were not in the NHL when the league first began.

They joined seven years after the inception of the league, followed shortly thereafter by several of the other Original Six teams. They carry that designation because for 25 years, they were the only teams in the league.

This season is the 101st in Bruins history. During that time, they’ve won the Stanley Cup on six occasions — most recently in 2011.

The Bruins have always had a big, bad identity, and this year is no different. They are both the tallest and the heaviest team in the league on average, and they play hard.

To nobody’s surprise, superstar forward David Pastrnak leads the Bruins in goals and is tied with Elias Lindholm for the team lead in points. Other players to watch include supervillain Brad Marchand and newly signed goaltender Jeremy Swayman.

Home-ice advantage — finally

Saturday marks the end of a week-long Utah HC road trip, which saw the team touch both coasts. The guys will be glad to sleep in their own beds again.

“It was a long trip,” said head coach André Tourigny after Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks. “You can see a little bit of mental fatigue, some mistakes in keeping our emotions in check, but in terms of character and fighting for the team, I think (we did well).”

It’s Utah HC’s second-ever home game, so you know the Delta Center will be bumping. There’s nothing like a Saturday-night hockey game, and doubly so in a market that’s been desperate to see its team play.

Both Clayton Keller and Robert Bortuzzo called the Delta Center the loudest building in the league this week. Home-ice advantage is a real factor in hockey and it will be present on Saturday.

Offense firing once again

Utah HC did something no expansion team had done since the NHL’s very first season: score five goals in each of its first three games. It followed that feat up, though, by being shut out by the New Jersey Devils on Monday.

Both Tourigny and Dylan Guenther said after Monday’s game that they’d failed to get to the middle of the ice, where the majority of NHL scoring chances are created. So on Wednesday, that was a key focus .

Utah HC’s first two goals against the Ducks came from getting to the middle.

Another weak point of Utah HC’s offense the past couple games had been creating scoring chances off the rush. It solved that too on Wednesday, scoring its last two goals off of rushes.

“I think we just gotta get pucks to the net,” said Utah HC defenseman Michael Kesselring, who scored the team’s third goal Wednesday. “Be a little more simple. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of skill, we want to make plays, but sometimes we’ve got to dumb it down a little bit and get pucks to the net.”

Injuries continue

Three of Utah HC’s top seven defensemen are now hurt, thanks to an apparent leg injury to Robert Bortuzzo. He joins Sean Durzi and John Marino in that category, though the length of his absence is yet to be determined.

General manager Bill Armstrong told KSL Sports on Tuesday (before Bortuzzo got hurt) that he would give some of his young AHL defensemen chances to show what they’re made of.

He recalled Patrik Koch from the minors on Wednesday and, depending on Bortuzzo’s return timeline, he might also have to bring up Maksymilian Szuber or Maveric Lamoureux.

Armstrong likes to think of one man’s injury as another man’s opportunity, but at a certain point, you might have to start making some acquisitions. A blue line that features Vladislav Kolyachonok with Koch and Szuber is probably going to get burned far too often, just due to lack of NHL experience.

Whatever Armstrong and company decide to do, just pray that none of the other defensemen get hurt.

Where to watch Utah Hockey Club vs. Boston Bruins

The game will be shown on both Utah HC+ and Utah 16 cable. Tickets are also available on Ticketmaster and other platforms for as low as $59.